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Walt Whitman to George Washington Whitman, 9 April 1864

About This Item

  • Title: Walt Whitman to George Washington Whitman, 9 April 1864
  • Date: April 9, 1864
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
  • Whitman Archive ID: mhs.00005
  • Source: Missouri Historical Society. The transcription presented here is derived from Walt Whitman, The Correspondence, ed. Edwin Haviland Miller (New York: New York University Press, 1961–1977), 208-209. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
  • Contributors to digital file: Elizabeth Lorang Vanessa Steinroetter Sarah Synovec Janel Cayer Alyssa Olson
  • Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "Walt Whitman to George Washington Whitman, 9 April 1864." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 05 January 2025. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: mhs.00005.xml (TEI)
Washington Saturday mn'g April 9 '641 Dear brother

I got a letter from Mother this morning, & she sends one to you for me to direct—I will just enclose both—you must write to Mother oftener—before she got this last letter it was too long, & seemed ten times longer than it was2—if she don't hear from you in a long while she just gets sick about it—she is getting pretty old, & shows it at last—still I think she is pretty well—

Nothing new with me—I wrote you three days ago,3 to Annapolis, I suppose you got it—Jeff is away a good deal of the time, surveying &c4—We are having another rain-storm set in here this morning—Congress is splurging away, doing some good things too—I see Kalbfleisch5 & Odell6 here frequently—have you writ to Han? Well, brother, good bye for present—

Walt

Notes

  • 1. The envelope for this letter bears the address: Capt George W Whitman | vet 51st New York Vol | Annapolis | Maryland. It is postmarked: Brooklyn, N. Y. | Apr |26 |186 (?). [back]
  • 2. George wrote to his mother on April 3, 1864; apparently his last letter had been written on March 6, 1864. [back]
  • 3. This letter is not known. [back]
  • 4. In December 1863, Jeff had made surveys at Springfield, Massachusetts, and, in February and March, he had been in Connecticut "making surveys for an 'Iron Co.'" See Thomas Jefferson Whitman's March 11, 1864, letter to Walt Whitman. [back]
  • 5. See Whitman's letter to his mother, Louisa Van Velsor Whitman, dated January 19, 1864. [back]
  • 6. See Whitman's letter to his mother, dated December 29, 1862 . [back]
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